Annona glabra (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Annona glabra L.

Family: Annonaceae

Synonyms

• Annona palustris L.

Vernacular names

• Pond apple, alligator apple (Am)
• Cayuda (Sp).

Distribution

Native in coastal regions of tropical and subtropical America and west tropical Africa. It has been introduced and naturalized in other parts of the tropics, also in Malesia.

Uses

The fruit pulp is edible; it is used raw or made into jelly or drinks. It is a kind of survival food. The light wood is used by fishermen. The leaves are used in traditional medicine in tropical America. Seedlings are useful as rootstock for other Annona species in wet soils.

Observations

• Tree, up to 13 m tall. Leaves glossy, deciduous.
• Fruit an ovoid pseudocarp, up to 12.5 cm × 8 cm, yellow to orange, faintly reticulated; pulp salmon-coloured.

Usually in humid lowlands, most abundant near coasts.

Selected sources

• Dassanayake, M.D. & Fosberg, F.R. (Editors), 1980- . A revised handbook to the Flora of Ceylon. Vol. 1-6. Published for the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., by Amerind Publishing Co., Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

• Morton, J.F., 1987. Fruits of warm climates. Creative Resource Systems Inc., Winterville, N.C., USA. 503 pp.

• Ochse, J.J., Soule, M.J., Dijkman, M.J. & Wehlburg, C., 1961. Tropical and subtropical agriculture. 2 Volumes. The Macmillan Company, New York. 1446 pp.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen